Details of Pearsonville Shell-Kennedy Meadows attempted murder

There are new details and eyewitness accounts about the attempted murders in Pearsonville and Kennedy Meadows by a single suspect.

By Mike BodineSTAFF WRITERmbodine@ridgecrestca.com

There are new details and eyewitness accounts about the attempted murders in Pearsonville and Kennedy Meadows by a single suspect. The suspect, Johnny Pulido, attacked the cashier at the Pearsonville Shell with a screw driver, and went after a camper at Kennedy Meadows days later with a box cutter. The cashier was stabbed more than 20 times, and suffered a collapsed lung during the melee. Following multiple surgeries, the cashier is also expected to lose her left eye. The camper was treated and was released.“He never asked for anything,” Scott Hansen of the Kennedy Meadows General Store said of Pulido. Hansen said Pulido walked right up to Russell Klette at the Kennedy Meadows campground and started stabbing him with a box cutter for no apparent reason. “Then the guy just turned around and walked away.” Pulido, a 24-year-old Los Angeles resident, is in custody in Tulare County Jail on charges that include attempted murder and attempted carjacking with bail set at $500,000. Pulido also faces charges from the Inyo County District Attorney's office. The Inyo County DA's office said Monday the case is still under investigation.According to a press release from Inyo County Sheriff's Office, the Pulido incident started around 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 21. Due to flash flooding, Inyo deputies could not get to the scene and called the Kern County Sheriff’s Department and the California Highway Patrol for assistance. Pulido had fled the scene by the time officers arrived.Tulare County dispatch received a call about an attempted murder and carjacking at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, July 23. Again, weather hampered law enforcement agencies from responding and Tulare asked Inyo County and CHP for assistance. CHP arrived on scene, found Pulido hiding in an outhouse and took him into custody without incident.The term “without incident” seemed to sum up Pulido up until the day he attacked the cashier at Pearsonville, according to Denise Jones, a shift manager at the Shell station. Jones said Monday that Pulido showed up at the Shell a few weeks before the incident without a backpack or anything else. Jones said she didn't know Pulido to have any possessions or any destination.“He didn't say a word and didn't ask for anything,” Jones said. “He talked to himself,” except for the evening of the incident, when he asked the cashier for some water and filled a cup with Mountain Dew instead. Jones said this was the only “robbery” he committed. Jones explained that Pulido came into the store after 10 p.m. when the Subway employees go home and the cashier was by herself. Pulido approached the cashier and began attacking her, unprovoked, Jones said. She said the cahier fought with Pulido as he stabbed her more than 20 times. The cashier received many cuts to the face and body and a collapsed lung which Jones suspects she received during the struggle and not due to a stab wound. The cashier was airlifted to a Bakersfield hospital where she remains, and has had several operations to repair the lung and facial damage. Jones said the cashier is scheduled for more surgeries and is expected to lose her left eye.Jones said the Pearsonville Shell was robbed more than a decade ago, but nothing as violent as Pulido's incident.Pulido made his way to the Kennedy Meadows area on Tuesday, establishing a camp for himself in an area between Kennedy Meadows and Highway 395. Hansen described the events that happened that afternoon and left the small community shaken.Hansen said Pulido walked out of the bushes and into the camp site of 67-year-old Klette of Florida at the Kennedy Meadows Campground.“He walked right up to Russell's camper,” Hansen said, “And Russell asked him what he wanted.” Pulido answered Klette with a blank stare. Klette asked him again what he wanted and got no reply. Pulido turned to walk away, then turned around again, walked up close to Klette and proceeded to stab Klette over and over. Pulido then turned around and simply walked away.Hansen said Klette came to the store where Hansen tended to his wounds and waited for an ambulance and law enforcement to arrive.“But with the rains and flooding, who knows when somebody was going to show?” Hansen explained.Pulido was then spotted walking in the bushes, approaching the rear of the store. Hansen said it was raining at the time and Pulido found refuge in an outhouse. CHP were the first to arrive an scene. Hansen said CHP officers were made aware of Pulidos's position and took him into custody without incident.“We were very, very relieved when the CHP showed up,” Hansen said.Klette was rushed by ambulance toward Highway 395 and Lancaster, Hansen said as he retold the story Klette had told him. The ambulance arrived at the highway and first responders decided to have Hansen flown to Bakersfield due to the extent of his injuries. Hansen said that Klette's injuries were determined to be not so life threatening and he was treated and released the next day.Hansen said Klette received 300 to 400 stitches. Hansen said Pulido had a small blade and so Klette received many cuts, most of them superficial.Klette returned to the campground and has since continued his forays into the Sierra Nevada on his vacation road trip back to Florida.Hansen said that the community began putting the pieces together of Pulido and his connection to the area. Hansen said Pulido had been seen wondering around the area for the last month. Pulido's camp was found along the side of the road along with “lots of drugs.” Hansen said he wasn't sure if Pulido was a hiker on the Pacific Crest Trail or just a transient.“Russell doesn't think the guy wanted anything,” Hansen said. Hansen, whose grandparents have own the store for years, said he couldn't recall anything so violent happening in Kennedy Meadows before.

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